Fishing's decline in Sound remains debatable subject

Charles Walsh

Updated 6:22 pm, Saturday, May 25, 2013

Few would deny that fishing in Long Island Sound is not what it was 10, even five years ago. But the cause of that decline is a subject that is known to start serious arguments on marina docks and in waterside bars.

At more than 1,320 square miles in area, Long Island Sound is designated as an Estuary of National Significance, yet it is threatened by pollution and shrinking habitat for fish, birds and other creatures.

It is estimated the Sound contributes $8.91 billion a year to the economies of the areas that surround it. More than 21 million people live within 50 miles of the sound.

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Short castsFishing report: The striper action in the rivers like the Saugatuck and Housatonic is still fairly good, although most of the schoolies have exited for the outer beaches and deeper water, leaving the larger bass behind targeting the herring returning from their spawning run. Small plastic jigs are not the go-to lure for the rivers these days. Try 9-inch Slug-Goes, surface swimmers or hunks of bunker or herring. Bluefish are here but not in significant numbers yet. Fluke fishing is still very good with keepers taken at Sunken Island and at the mouth of the Housey and Saugatuck. The flounder fishing is fading fast. The fabulous sea bass fishery we saw last season has yet to develop. Porgies are all over the place and getting bigger.-- CHARLES WALSH

No wonder feelings about it often run hot.

Some claim that decades of abuse, pollution and neglect are the reason the Sound has become an inhospitable place for fish and other creatures. Still others see the problem in a wider context, citing global warming as the prime cause of the degradation of that once pristine environment.

Two recent developments have addressed themselves to both sides of that dispute.

For one, just-proposed federal legislation would provide new funding for additional cleanup, water quality and shoreline preservation efforts for the Sound, as well as other critical environmental and conservation needs. The legislation was introduced last week by Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Steve Israel, both of New York.

"Long Island Sound is a regional and a national treasure, as well as a critical economic, recreational, and environmental resource," DeLauro said. "We have a responsibility to ensure its protection and preservation. I will continue to fight for the funding needed to preserve this pristine, beautiful and vibrant ecosystem so that generations of Americans can continue to enjoy it."

While those kinds of efforts continue to help Long Island Sound rebound from decades of neglect and abuse, if rising water temperatures, already partly blamed for the crash of the lobster population, continues, the fish species that either call it home or migrate here every season may be forced to go elsewhere.

Reports published in the journal Nature and in the Washington Post found that the world's fish and other sea life have for decades been moving toward the Earth's poles seeking cooler water. The study appears to be further evidence of the effect a rapidly warming planet has on global fish stocks and harvests.

A case in point is the cod and haddock fisheries based out of New England ports such as those in Cape Cod and along the Gulf of Maine. Recreational and smaller commercial boats are severely affected by the dearth of ground fish species that once lived close to shore. Although larger commercial boats can still reach fish populations that are in deeper, cooler offshore waters, the smaller boats cannot, the study found.

In recent years, the once-common summertime inshore daytime bluefish blitzes into Long Island Sound's rivers and estuaries and along its beaches have been almost nonexistent. Blues and striped bass tend to lurk in deeper, cooler water a mile or two offshore.